


Harriet Evans and the Happily Ever After

by LowerEastSide



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Bedtime Stories, Gen, Parenthood, Pre-Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-30
Updated: 2018-11-30
Packaged: 2019-09-02 00:06:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16775656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LowerEastSide/pseuds/LowerEastSide
Summary: When it’s Hermione’s turn to tell Rose a bedtime story, she wants to provide some positive female role models. And out of the mouths of babes…





	Harriet Evans and the Happily Ever After

**Author's Note:**

> AN: This is AU after Hogwarts; Harry and Ginny did not get back together, Draco didn’t marry Astoria, and Ron and Hermione only had one child.
> 
> Thank you keyflight790 for the beta read and the name suggestions!

It was bedtime in the Granger-Weasley household, and there was a change to the routine.

“I’m reading to you tonight, sweetheart. Daddy had to run back to work for an emergency.” _Emergency my arse,_ Hermione thought privately. Only George Weasley could conjure up a whoopee cushion disaster at nine in the evening. “Which story would you like?”

Rose screwed her nose up. “We were reading Martin Miggs. But Daddy does all the voices.”

“I could try the voices?” Even as she offered, Hermione knew she’d sound ridiculous, and not in the way Ron did. Rose shook her head, already a sceptic at the tender age of six.

“Just pick one, Mummy.”

Hermione glanced at Rose’s bookshelf. What to choose? She was so pleased to be here for Rose, she wanted it to be perfect. It was normally the other way round: Hermione spent time with her in the morning, before sending her to Molly for the day, and Ron saw her off to bed while Hermione worked in her office. The whole family ate dinner together, but this was their way of making sure Rose had personal time with each of her parents. Hermione didn’t want to just repeat a story she’d heard a hundred times already; she wanted Rose to remember this as a special moment. She needed something that would stick in her daughter’s imagination.

Of course, Hermione’s own life had been the most thrilling adventure story of all. Dragons, evil wizards, a castle… Things she’d never dreamed were real until she received her Hogwarts letter. But she didn’t want to frighten Rose with upsetting details, nor did she want her daughter to endlessly question her family, or her Uncle Harry when he managed to stay in one place for more than a day. She’d have to make this an adaptation.

“Instead of a book, I’ll tell you a story I know. Once there was a boy who was very lonely.”

“Does it have to be about a boy?” Rose interrupted.

Hermione frowned. “Of course not.” She looked at the bookshelf once more. It was true that more of the stories featured male protagonists; that was just how the ratio of children’s writing in the wizarding world was. Hermione resolved to bring in some more Muggle books for her daughter later. But for tonight…

“I know,” she grinned, tucking Rose in a bit tighter under the blanket. “Have you ever heard the one about Harriet Evans, the girl who defeated the Dark wizard?”

~~~

Rose absolutely _loved_ Hermione’s haphazard retelling of Harry’s story with him recast as a girl. Harriet, Rob and Jane were an inseparable trio, getting into scrapes at school, defeating trolls and chessboards and bullies alike. She didn’t bother to rename her old professors; by the time Rose started Hogwarts she’d be old enough to know this was just a story Hermione had embellished. But she did change the names of her peers, and softened many details.

When she reached the end of her tale, Rose was yawning. “Can I hear more tomorrow?” she asked sleepily. “Harriet is awesome.”

Hermione kissed her forehead. “Sure, sweetheart.”

As she closed Rose’s door, she saw Ron standing in the hallway with a tired smile. “I heard the end of that,” he said, gathering his wife into his arms. “You’re not a bad storyteller. But why’d I have to be _Rob?_ ”

“You’re lucky I didn’t make you Gilderoy, with the way you ran off tonight. I have thirteen memos to catch up on.”

“Yeah, but wasn’t this better?”

It was better. The next night, Hermione found that no matter how much work she had piled up, she couldn’t resist tucking Rose in and telling her the next part of the story.

~~~

It took Hermione two weeks to get to the end of the tale. She didn’t keep any deaths, except the unnamed Dark wizard at the end (who dissolved like the Wicked Witch of the West) and she left out Dementors, among other things. But Harriet, Rob and Jane made it through seven years of school victorious, and Hermione managed to fit a few lessons into the excitement as well.

“…..and Harriet waved the sword at the big snake until it ran away. She learned the sword came to her because she was true and brave in her heart.”

“…..Jane slapped Deacon in the face. Don’t do that by the way, violence is never an answer. But she felt rather pleased with herself.”

“…..Lucy was a bit mad but she was a good friend. Sometimes we humour our friends, even if Nargles aren’t real.”

“…..and the Quidditch team won! You see, Rob only had to believe in himself.”

“…..Harriet knew Deacon was being sneaky and planning something, but no one would listen to her. So she used her magic map to follow him around.”

“…..They spent months camping out in the forest, looking for the magic objects that would make the Dark wizard go away.”

“And they all lived happily ever after,” Hermione ended with a flourish on the final night. “Rob and Jane got married, and so did Don and Sean, and Lucy and Gloria. And Harriet travelled allllll over the world.” It occurred to her how neatly tied with a bow most of her friends’ lives ended up, except Harry’s. Rose was just as observant.

“What about Harriet? Didn’t she get married?”

“Not everyone has to get married, sweetheart. Some people are happy alone.” Whether Harry was actually happy alone was up for debate; he was happier than he’d been with Ginny, but that wasn’t saying much.

Rose’s little brow was furrowed in thought. “But what about Deacon?”

“Deacon? The Slytherin boy?”

Rose nodded. “I thought he and Harriet would be together.”

Hermione sat on the end of her daughter’s bed, stunned. “Why… why would you think that?”

“He saved Harriet in the big house, when he lied. I thought he was going to switch sides then.” Rose pouted. “He wasn’t really all bad.”

Draco Malfoy _wasn’t_ really all bad, as Hermione knew well. He worked at the Ministry and she saw him at least twice a week. He’d become quieter, more polite, a far cry from his bullying days at Hogwarts. Mostly he just seemed lonely. 

“Maybe not _all_ bad,” she agreed. “But he was pretty mean to Harry — to Harriet in school.”

“Uncle George says when boys are mean to me, they just like me.”

“That’s not a good way to show it,” Hermione said firmly, making a note to give George an earful about gender stereotypes next time she saw him. “If you like someone you should be nice to them."

“Yeah, but boys are stupid,” Rose said with conviction. Hermione burst out laughing.

“Sometimes, yes.”

“Deacon just needed a friend,” Rose added. “Harriet should have helped him. She followed him everywhere.”

That hit close to home. Two years ago, between the long trips Harry was always taking to try and ‘find himself,’ he’d confessed to Hermione after a good bit of wine that he still felt badly for not trying harder with Draco, for cursing him in the bathroom. Hermione had assured him that wasn’t his job, that Draco had been old enough to ask for help, but Harry still blamed himself for not noticing how sick the other boy was over his task.

Hermione smoothed her daughter’s hair back. “Deacon made his own choices. It’s not a girl’s job to fix every broken boy they come across. We’re the hero in our own stories, not theirs.”

“I know,” Rose sighed. “Anyway, she went back for him in the fire.”

“Yes, she did. Harriet was a good person.”

“That should have been a kissing scene,” Rose said smugly. “I’m better at this than you, Mummy.”

The idea of Harry and Draco, locked in a fairy-tale kiss, was absurdly hilarious. It also… strangely made sense. “Those two never could leave each other alone,” Hermione said to herself, but Rose overheard.

“I told you so.”

Hermione laughed softly as she dimmed the lights. “So you did. Next time, you should tell me a story, OK?”

“OK.” Rose snuggled down in her blankets. “I think Daddy feels left out, though. Maybe he should read to me tomorrow.”

“Sure thing. Goodnight, love.”

“Goodnight, Mummy.”

Hermione closed the door quietly behind her and made her way down to the kitchen. She needed a cup of tea.

Rose’s words had affected her. True, they were all pat, simple answers, based on archetypes, some of them wildly sexist. But had Hermione overlooked something for all these years? Had she never even considered it, because Harry was _Harry_ and not a girl at all? She liked to think of herself as extremely progressive, but Hermione knew that even she could have blind spots.

Of course, Harry and Draco would have never worked during their school days. Harry had a destiny to concentrate on, and had trouble with his emotions, especially after Sirius’ death. Draco was under his father’s thumb, a haughty brat, and when things went south his fear took control. But when the war was over, maybe they could have helped each other; two broken boys who’d been drawn to one another for the better part of a decade.

This was all based on the whims of a child. Still, Hermione thought it couldn’t hurt to invite Draco to the next pub night when Harry was back in town.

In the kitchen, Ron sat at the table, fixing up a late night snack. “You finished? Get to the happy ending?”

“Our happy ending.” Hermione kissed him on the cheek. “And you are never going to believe what your daughter just said.”

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hi on [Tumblr!](https://lower-east-side.tumblr.com/)
> 
> I’ve always thought that if either Harry or Draco been written as a girl, quite a bit of the public would have assumed they’d be endgame. For better or worse, we have a ‘good girl changes the bad boy’ trope in our culture, as well as ‘teasing means he likes you.’ As a Drarry shipper, I obviously do think the pigtail pulling could go the way of romance, and I think it’s heterosexist to ignore that because both of them are male, even if it’s not a great trope to begin with. (Seriously, if you have a crush on someone, be nice to them!) Thank goodness for fanfiction!


End file.
